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Apr
07
Posted by Margot M on April 7th, 2022
Posted in: Communities of Interest
Tags: DOCLINE, hospital librarians, hospital library advisory group
UMass Chan Medical School, Worcester MA
As Year One comes to a close, Region 7 wants to update you on activities designed to meet the needs of hospital librarians.
Since May 2021, Region 7 hosted two webinars aimed at hospital librarians. The webinars were offered nationally. According to registration records, 44 registrants for ClinicalTrials.gov for Librarians were from Region 7, as were 26 registrants for Ransomware Attacks: What Medical Librarians Need to Know. We identified the ransomware topic during a discussion with NH/VT hospital librarians in March 2021. We hope to identify Year Two webinar topics when we meet with hospital librarians in June 2022.
The Medical Library Association offers four specializations: Consumer Health Information (CHIS), Data Services (DSS), Disaster Information (DIS), and Systematic Review Services (SRSS). NNLM will cover the costs of CHIS, DSS, and DIS. SRSS is currently under construction at MLA. At this time, SRSS does not have a NNLM sponsor for covering the fees. Please let us know if this would be useful for you.
Some hospital librarians tell us that they do not have time to conduct these types of services. They tell us that they must focus on patient care, best practice, policy/protocol, quality review, and continuing medical/nursing education. They suggest that learning about instructional design would be more useful.
Region 7 held the inaugural Hospital Libraries Advisory Group (HLAG) meeting in August 2021. At that time, we announced that DOCLINE support is available on a regional level. Coordinators will open and close DOCLINE accounts and are involved in clean-up work with the DOCLINE database. HLAG supported the idea of auditing DOCLINE users in Region 7. Several librarians reported instances of non-responsive DOCLINE libraries, especially after nationwide reductions in community hospital libraries. Identifying libraries that handle Rush (within 24 hours) and Urgent Patient Care (within 2 hours) is a primary concern.
In March, we began contacting DOCLINE hospital libraries checking to see if they are able to lend for Rush and Urgent Patient Care requests. We understand that libraries are stressed for staffing and open hours. By simply unchecking the boxes for Rush and Urgent Patient Care, requests bypass those libraries. If you haven’t heard from us yet, we hope to contact you by the end of May 2022.
Check our blog posts on Jill Tarabula (NY) Chloe Rotman (MA), and Tim Kenny (ME). Look for future Spotlights on librarians from CT, NH, RI, VT, and New York City.
Hold the date for our annual Hospital Libraries Advisory Group meeting! We will share what we are learning from Region 7, and ask for your webinar suggestions. This is an opportunity for you to connect with other hospital librarians in Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Rhode Island and Vermont. Registration details will be sent to our HLAG distribution list. Please contact Margot Malachowski (email below) to see if you are on our list.
ABOUT Margot M